Monday, July 16, 2007
Back by popular demand
Due to a number of requests that I received asking me to finally update this page to reflect my recent trip to Denmark, I have acquiesced. Below is a transcript of what I wrote in my journal while on holiday from 27 June to 3 July:
Wednesday, June 27
Today I left Aberdeen bound for Billund, Denmark. The outbound journey was pretty uneventful, except that I just had to be sitting in front of a screaming child on the plane! This same child decided that it would be fun to climb all over and kick the back of my seat throughout the entire trip. Thank goodness it was only 1 hour and 20 minutes long, or I might have been forced to thrash him!
After arriving in Schipol Airport, I had to find the ‘B’ terminal, which I’ve never had to take, as I’m always leaving for the U.S. out of ‘E’ terminal. This meant that I had to go through immigration control. At least I finally got an Amsterdam stamp in my passport...yah! After that, I had to go through security again. Is it just me, or are they going a little overboard on security (I mean, I already went through it once, didn’t I?). At security, they confiscated my Oasis juice that I bought in Aberdeen and I hadn’t even opened it yet! What a waste of two pounds…and now I’m so thirsty. Stupid regulations. I found my gate and proceeded to wait forever for my departure time. Finally it came, and we were ushered on to a shuttle bus (only the second time that I’ve ever had to use one at an airport to take me from the gate to the actual plane). While on the bus, we passed some dodgy KLM planes. The exhaust appears to have been located just under the wings, so there were huge scorch marks all alongside the plane…I fervently prayed that my plane wouldn’t be one of these designs! It wasn’t…thankfully, our plane did not look like it had been burned to a crisp. However, it did have ashtrays. This sight always unnerves me, as smoking has been banned from airlines for the last, what, 10-15 years? Just think how old this plane is and how many hours it has racked up in the air. Think also about the fact that people don’t like owning cars for more than 10 years, let alone planes! I shudder just thinking about those facts…perhaps it is best not to dwell on the situation.
I have to point out that a stewardess just came around with the beverage and snack trays. She kept asking people whether they would like a ‘sweet’ or ‘savory’ snack. The sweet snack turned out to be a packet of Oreo cookies, and the savory snack was a packet of crackers. When I declined a beverage, she in turn just chucked both a sweet and savory snack at me! How very odd.
I am excited to see Theresa though. She text me a little while ago and said that she has to work at the pool tonight, and that I could come along for free to swim or just walk around with her. I don’t know if I will swim yet or not, but I did remember to bring my swimsuit!
Hmm, I also have to keep in mind what to get people. I have to pick up a spoon for my mom and grandma, and Nathan and I made a pact with each other that whenever the other person travels, they’ll pick up a present for the other person (unless they’ve already been to that place). That means lots of presents for me though, because I haven’t been anywhere! Lol. I love this pact, and I’m glad Nathan proposed it. I really do love picking out present for people, whether they be birthdays, holidays, or just because. I get to tap into my creative side, and really challenge myself to find that ‘perfect present’ for someone.
Well, we’re about to land soon (only a 55 minute flight), so I better go before the cabin crew starts to yell at me to put my table tray up! I’ll write more once I’m in Denmark and have a spare moment. I get the feeling that Theresa is going to keep me very busy this week!
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Well, I landed safely in Denmark. Unfortunately, the weather was not very good and it is rainy and cold. I didn’t get to see much of the landscape from the air, as the cloud deck was so low. By the time we cleared it, we had practically landed. I got off the plane and went to collect my luggage. Then I made my way towards the exit, which wasn’t far away (Billund airport is not that much larger than Aberdeen’s tiny airport). I only had to wait a short time to see Theresa. She came to pick me up, and it was so great to see her again! We hugged like mad and did the screaming girl thing (which I’ll admit, I’ve never been inclined to do before), and people were staring at us, but I didn’t care. We then walked back to her car, where I met her sister. It was so unusual to get in the car (mind, they’re virtually identical to U.S. cars, except for the km/hour speedometer). However, after getting used to cars from the UK, it felt so weird being a passenger on the right had side again.
We drove back towards Theresa’s flat in the town of Vojens, and I got to see how the roads/signs were laid out. I found out that they too have roundabouts, but for some reason they didn’t seem nearly as scary as in Scotland! She took me to eat at this tiny little fast food shack, where I got quite a delicious cheeseburger. This is the first time that I got to experience how strange it was to be in a foreign country (and I know what you’re thinking…”Scotland is a foreign country too”, but I’m talking about a country that doesn’t speak English as its primary language). Theresa obviously had to order for me, and of course everyone around me was speaking Danish. I started to feel the weird sensation of being surrounded by people, yet overwhelmed by a sense of loneliness and isolation. It was a strange experience. Theresa was speaking to me in English, but when she spoke to her sister she reverted to Danish. Likewise, her sister was only really speaking Danish, though Theresa told me she spoke wonderful English.
After dinner, we went to their parent’s house for a quick visit and to drop off Theresa’s sister. Her parents were really nice, though her dad barely spoke a word of English. Her mom was very fluent though, and was very easy to understand. They led me upstairs to show me their animal menagerie. They had an enormous bird cage that ran from floor to ceiling on one side of the room. It was a surprising but magnificent sight. Theresa’s sister then showed me her hamsters and their chinchillas. I had never before seen a chinchilla, so she took one out for me…they are the cutest animals, and look like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel. It was also so very, very soft. It was like petting a cotton ball, but somehow even softer!
After that we left to go to Theresa’s flat. When we got there, I was amazed by how small it was! Upon entering, you are already standing in the kitchen, with the bathroom to the right. As you walk forward, you enter the last room, which is a combination of a dining room, living room and bedroom. Although it was very small, every space was utilized smartly, and it’s actually a very nice flat. We opened up a bottle of really yummy wine (which is saying something, because I generally despise the taste of wine!), and listened to music and talked for a few hours before deciding to hit the hay. Theresa fell asleep very quickly, but although I was completely knackered, I simply could not go to sleep. I decided to get my iPod out, hoping that listening to music before bed (like I usually do back home) would help me sleep. A secondary reason for relying on the iPod was because Theresa is a terrible snorer, and I’m a very light sleeper. If this keeps up all week, I’m going to have to literally drag myself from the plane in Scotland, as exhaustion will no doubt consume me.
Eventually, I did fall asleep sometime after midnight or 1am, which made it a very long day indeed (as I had woken up at 7am that morning in order to have enough time to get ready, turn everything off in the flat, meet my taxi, and check in at the airport before my flight)!
Thursday, June 28 (My birthday!)
I
woke up to the sound of a young child screaming. I was totally confused as to
why there was a small child in Theresa’s flat. After my exhausted senses
cleared, I realized that it was in fact Theresa’s ringtone
on her mobile. How very strange.
As we were both tired, we lounged around for most of the early morning, and then Theresa left briefly to go fetch us some breakfast. She came back with an assortment of bread and pastries. We gobbled down the bread, topped with a choice of butter, cheeses or Nutella. Mmm, delicious. Then we ate some Danish. You haven’t eaten a true Danish until you’ve eaten a Danish danish! Lol. It’s funny, but they do truly taste much better.
After Theresa took care of some errands, we left to go visit a castle, called Koldinghus (Kolding House). As you know, I’m all about castles! Some may say obsessed, but I simply claim that I’m an avid fan, lol. We spent a while walking around looking at things. It was built in the 17th century, and then was mostly destroyed in the 19th century by a huge fire. They attempted to rebuild and restore it, and only finished in 2000. Just before we left, we decided to walk up to the tower. I though I would pass out from exhaustion before I reached the summit, but somehow I made it. The view was spectacular; you could see the entire surrounding cityscape in a vivid panoramic sight. Below are my patched together photos that display as best it can the 360 degree view as seem from the top of the tower.
Above: Funny sign that we found in an
exhibit at Koldinghus
I know that the size and patchiness of the picture doesn’t quite do the scenery justice, but it’s the best I can do, short of encouraging you to go to Denmark and simply see for yourself. After the castle, we got ice cream. Theresa took me to this little ice cream parlor that served the most delicious desserts. We each got an enormous waffle cone with four different kinds of ice cream in it, and I also had vanilla soft serve on top, with a very good strawberry fluff finalizing it all. It was a humongous cone, and it took me forever to finish it off, but it was all worth it!
After the ice cream we headed over to Theresa’s friend Elisabeth’s flat. I was quite anxious about meeting her, as I’m actually quite shy about meeting new people. However, all my worries proved to be completely unfounded, as Elisabeth turned out to be very nice and affable. She also switched to speaking in English for me. Also, it turned out that it was her birthday as well today (she was 21). So, it was planned that we would go out at night and party extra hard for our combined birthdays!
I took a shower once we got to Elisabeth’s flat, and then I had to get ready to go to their Jehovah Witness meeting. I really didn’t want to go, but it was important to Theresa, so I went. I was so bored (anyone who knows me, knows that I’m practically allergic to religion of any kind!). After almost an hour, Theresa and I slipped away to a small adjoining room to talk for a bit (because she knew that I needed a break). Eventually we had to go back in. I never want to go back to another one again!
After the meeting ended, we all
went back to Elisabeth’s flat to get ready and start drinking! To the right is
a picture of me after getting ready (many of you girls out there will
understand that when you’re drinking with a group of 
friends,
a camera is never far away! We always take silly
pictures when we’re getting ready to go out)…as you can see, I was wearing a
fairly modest outfit (okay, to be fair, the skirt was a bit short…I had to make
sure that I never bent over! Lol). What you can’t see though, is the adorable pair of boots
that I was wearing. Elisabeth’s friend Maria showed up, and then the drinking
really started. By this time it was after 10pm, so we started to think about
going out (over here, I was told that partying usually goes from about 10-11pm
until 7-8am!). We went to one place, bought some drink tickets for later on,
and then moved on. I had to go to an ATM (as I was sick of sponging off of
Theresa…she had paid for everything up until now). I made Theresa take the
money out for me, as I have no idea about Danish Kroner.
It was insane…even when I hit the ‘English’ option on the ATM,
most of the words were still in Danish! Theresa ended up 
taking
out 1,000 kroner, which is equivalent to about £100
(or $200). Danish money confused me to no end, as the bill amounts are
humongous! They come in amounts from 50, 100, 200, 500, etc. So, when something
costs 200 kroner, my jaw drops open because it sounds
like so much (when in fact it’s just shy of £20)!.
To the left is a picture of (in order):
Theresa, Elisabeth, and Maria.
So, after the ATM we went to this other little pub and ordered pink pussies (don’t ask!). They were enormous pink blended drinks that were pretty darn good. As soon as we sat down, Theresa vanished and went to talk with some random group of guys (typical of her!). So, I was with Elisabeth and Maria, when all of sudden, the table was filled with this huge group of guys! Lol. Of course they were all speaking Danish, but as soon as they heard I was American, they started speaking English, which was very considerate of them. This one guy, Jonas, was too outrageous! I had a great time speaking with him, and I even got his number. After a while, he presented me with 3 roses because he heard that it was my birthday. Too sweet. Eventually, he left to talk to some other friends, and I started chatting with this other guy. The interesting thing about him was that he was completely painted in gold! That’s right, from the top of his head (including his hair) to his tippy toes (I assume, as he was wearing shoes), he was sparkling in gold. He was great though, and when he heard that I lived in Scotland, he put on the most convincing Scottish accent! I had to laugh, as his accent truly was gorgeous (and everyone knows that I go ga-ga over a nice Scottish accent!), and he told me that he had never even been to Scotland before. How annoying is that!? Lol. I freaking live there almost two years and I still sound as American as the day I was born, and this random Danish guy can do a wonderful Scottish accent without even trying, and having never set foot in the country!
In due time we left that place (after having to find Theresa, that is), and headed over to the first place that we stopped at (which was absolutely filled to capacity by this time). I was already so trashed by this time, but Elisabeth and I each got a complimentary bottle of champagne for our birthdays, so I started drinking that next. I’m not usually one to like champy, but this stuff was so good (or maybe I was just way too drunk!). After a lot more drinking and dancing, Theresa was feeling a bit sick so we went outside for some fresh air.
Then the funniest thing happened. After a couple of minutes, we saw the golden man again and went over to say hi. Before we got there, Jonas jumped up and screamed “Michelle” and ran over to give me a great big hug. A group of guys were all sitting on a wagon, being pulled by the golden boy himself. Theresa and I both sat down and started talking to them (where I found out that Jonas was with the Elite modeling agency and worked in Milan and Copenhagen). After a short time, we started moving! The golden man began pulling the wagon to their next destination, and apparently we were going along for the ride! After a terrifying and out-of-control trip downhill, we stopped outside a pub. Jonas gave me a beer (as their wagon was just packed with bottles of alcohol), so we just all sat outside drinking and talking. I’ll save all the minute details, but needless to say, those guys were crazy fun. I didn’t get a picture of them, unfortunately, as Theresa and I had left our purses in the pub with Elisabeth because we thought we were coming back.
The next think I know, one of the boys was point out that dawn was approaching. It was getting late (or early, as it were), but I was having a great time and didn’t want to leave. Just then, Jonas grabbed my hand and dragged me inside to the dance floor. We were the only tow people in it, and everyone was staring at us! After a while I lost my nerve to dance alone, and went back outside, where Theresa and I eventually decided to call it a night. So, we started walking back towards the pub we had first strayed from and went inside to see if Elisabeth was still there. She wasn’t. We could only hope that she had grabbed all of our stuff when she left. Theresa and I began the walk back to the flat, but our feet were killing us, so we took off our shoes and were walking around in our bare feet. On the way, we met this orange striped tabby cat who started following us. I, in my drunken wisdom and creativity, named him ‘Orange’. That cat ended up following us most of the way back to Elisabeth’s flat. He was too cute.
I suppose I should note that during the walk back, I began speaking in an absurdly bad English accent. I have to idea why I did that, but Theresa was nearly doubled over the entire time laughing. We did eventually manage to get back to Elisabeth’s flat and saw that luckily she had brought our stuff home with her. We crawled into bed (the 3 of us all squished onto a tiny bed!) and passed out…the time had to be sometime near 5am (and mind, I had woken up at 8am that morning…quite a long day, if I say so myself).
As a side note, I’d just like to thank the dozen or so people who answered 19, 20, or 21 when they were asked how old I was! It makes a 27-year-old woman feel quite good to know that she doesn’t quite look like an old hag yet!
Friday, June 29
The headache began the second that I opened my eyes this morning. I had one of the worst hangovers in history. To top it all off, Maria had slept through her alarm and ended up missing her train, so she was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get ready in a hurry. After she left, we were all awake and couldn’t get back to sleep, so we just lay there moaning in agony. At some point, I found the energy to sit up. Elisabeth made breakfast for us, a dish called koldskål. It was actually quite good. It consisted of milk mixed with vanilla and (I’d assume some other stuff, as it was kind of thick) poured over some cookie-type things.
After eating, we watched the first disc of Pride and Prejudice. Then, we decided to get some proper food, and of course buy some paracetemol for our headaches, so we went to the mall. We ate at this family restaurant, and it was the first time that I actually had to try and read off a Danish menu. I didn’t succeed, so Elisabeth asked the waitress for an English-translated menu. I ordered chicken and potatoes, which was quite delicious. After the food (which ended up almost making Theresa puke…maybe food wasn’t the best idea after all!), we went browsing in some stores. I’m not much of a shopper, but those two are, so I was overruled. After the shopping, we returned to Elisabeth’s flat to finish the rest of the movie. When that was done, we left to drive back to Theresa’s flat (about a one-half hour drive from Kolding to Vojens), because we knew we had to get up early to get the train to Copenhagen the next day.
Saturday, June 30
We got up at 8:30am in order to have time for both of us to shower and get ready and be at the train station by 11am. We were going to walk to the station, but just as we were about to leave, the weather turned on us. Periods of torrential rain began and then it started to hail. I noticed that some of the stones were at least ¼ inch, so this could have been classified as a severe thunderstorm. The lightning and thunder was so intense for a time that Theresa called her sister and asked her to drive us to the train station. Luckily she agreed.
We bought our tickets, which came out to be 291 kroner for a one-way trip to Copenhagen. Yikes. That’s about £29 (which would raise £58 in total once I bought my return ticket on Sunday!). Of course, Theresa’s ticket was much less because she had a student card, so she only paid about 180 kroner. We found seats near the front and I was just thinking to myself that this was going to be a very long three hour trip, when Theresa started talking to the guy sitting behind us. She always engages in conversation with fellow travelers, which I do not usually do. After sitting there listening to them speak to each other in Danish for awhile, I got bored and was just about to put my iPod on, but then Theresa told him I was American, and so he immediately began speaking in English. It always amazes me that people over here are generally all very accommodating towards non-native speakers.
So, the three of us ended up talking for the rest of the train ride. We found out his name was Jonas (just like the other guy that I met on my birthday…how weird is that?). He offered us each a beer (yes, you can apparently drink on the train, which, come to think of it, I believe you can also do in Scotland) and we accepted. It was surprising good (for a beer that is) and I finished quickly. Then we gave each of us another one. We found out that him and his mates were on their way to a music festival (kind of like Glastonbury, from what I would gather, for those of you who have heard of that one), where they were going to camp for a week. They had brought 3-4 huge trolleys full of camping equipment and booze (mostly booze though!). It was at this time that I was handed a bottle of Schnapps to drink. I ended up taking 2 huge swigs from the bottle – whoa, that was strong! They also made me take a taste of this tiny bottle they had. I was called Gammel Dansk and tasted disgusting…almost like mixing lighter fluid and worcestershire sauce! Yuck.
Jonas (left) and his two other mates that we met on the train
We were all getting along well, and I had a great time talking with Jonas. He told me some of the weird Danish traditions that they have over here. For example, apparently on the longest day of the year (vernal equinox), they burn witches! Ok, so they don’t burn actual human witches nowadays, but they do burn effigies of them, and even cook food on the open flames! So, I guess if you’re a witch, definitely stay out of Denmark! Lol. Another tradition happens when you turn 25 and are still unmarried. I guess it’s custom to sprinkle cinnamon around your house and body when this happens. I have no idea why this is, but it’s what they do! The tradition continues on, and when you turn 30 and still are not married, pepper becomes the sprinkling of choice. Jonas said that people can even go as far as taking oil drums and filling them with concrete in order to construct a giant pepper grinder in your front yard! Too funny. They joke that when you are 30, you have two parties: one where you build the giant pepper grinder, and one where you have to take it down (which apparently is so massive and heavy that it gets difficult to remove, so many people leave it up for a few years!).
Jonas’ mates invited Theresa and me to a party with them that night, but because it was at some obscure location in the suburbs of Copenhagen, we declined. We had a great time meeting them though (and we actually managed to snap their pictures for once!) and it made the train ride go by so quickly.
So, once we arrived in Copenhagen, we hugged them goodbye and made our way out of the train station. We stopped at KFC, which, thank heavens, had their menu written in English. After that we did a bit of shopping for a while. It was during this time that my mood changed from wonderful to über-pissed off! While I was standing in one shop looking at some stuff, I kept feeling someone bumping into me, which started to annoy me. A second later, I head the unmistakable sound of a zipper being moved and immediately spun around to look at who was behind me. There were two older women who were staring at me, and then I checked my backpack and realized that my front pocket was open! I would surmise that those two women had been bumping into me, trying to conceal the fact that they were unzipping my bag to try and rob me! Once I realized what had happened, I looked up to try and find the would-be thieves but noticed that they disappeared. Ooh…now, I’m a very laid-back and peaceful person most of the time, but I swear, if they would still have been standing there, I would have beat the living s**t out of them! Instead, I turned my attention to checking the contents of my bag. The pockets that they had opened contained all of my most valuable possessions: my wallet, my camera, my iPod, 5 expensive rings, and my purse. Luckily, I think I foiled them just in time, and I was so very, very relieved, as I don’t know what I would have done if they would have taken anything. For the remainder of the day, anytime that someone bumped into me I was paranoid that it was happening again. So, needless to say that my first impressions of Copenhagen were not very good! We browsed shops for a little while longer, and then headed back to the train station to catch a train to Stephanie’s flat (Theresa’s friend, with whom we were staying the night). It only took about 15 minutes to get there, and then a further 10-15 minute walk.
Stephanie is nice, but from the second we got into her flat, she and Theresa have been speaking Danish to each other, to the exclusion of me. And so, here I have sat for the last two hours writing in this journal. I am so very bored. It wasn’t until this moment that I really realized how incredibly sick I am getting of not understanding anything. I have to rely on Theresa 24-7, as I don’t speak a word of Danish, and it’s so rare to actually see English printed on a sign. While Denmark is beautiful, and the people are generally very nice, I don’t think that I would come back, even with the assistance of a translator like Theresa. All I really want right now is to go home to Scotland, and to the comforting feeling of knowing and using the national language: English. The Danish language is actually quite pretty, when I hear it in moderation, but too much leaves me honestly feeling quite annoyed, bored and out of spirits.
I’m not sure what Theresa and I are doing tonight, although she did mention something earlier about going to some amusement place. I have no idea what that will exactly entail though. Tomorrow, I think we’re going to some Experimentarium place, because Theresa wants to go. The one thing that I am really excited about, though, is that we plan to take a train to Germany (possibly going as far south as Hamburg) on Monday. I can’t wait, and although I still won’t be able to understand the language, it’ll be different and then I can also say that I’ve been to Germany! Countries down: 5 (U.S., Mexico, Scotland, Denmark, and Germany)…countries left to go: infinity!
Danish words I’ve learned so far:
Tak: thank you
Kage: cake
Schnapps: what do you think it means?
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Well, we just got back from the amusement park, called Tivoli. It was very strange to go to a full-scale amusement park in the middle of Copenhagen. It was in this giant walled in area in the middle of the city! They had every different kind of ride that you’d expect to find in a typical park similar to any in the States. We bought unlimited ride wristbands and then found the line for the big roller coaster and ran up it. It was one of the best coasters I have ever been on (and I’ve been on a lot! I love roller coasters). We did that ride twice in quick succession (it was amazing…the queue only took about 10 minutes to get through…I’m used to standing in line for 1-2 hours at a minimum!). We went on practically every ride before the rides closed down. The scariest one for me was also the wimpiest ride of all: swings! For those of you in Minnesota, picture the swings at Valley fair (across from the wooden coaster), and then raise them up 100-150 feet into the air. I am so scared of heights that sometimes it is almost paralyzing, and being suspended by 4 single chains per seat was terrifying. My knuckles were white as they grabbed the flimsy bar in front of me. I couldn’t talk or move the entire time we were in the air, and I almost started crying. And the sad thing was, I was the one who wanted to go on the bloody things! Stupid me. Just before closing time, there was a fireworks show which lasted for about 10 minutes. I was well chuffed, as it was almost the 4th of July (and being in Scotland, where they could care less about America’s Independence Day, I wasn’t going to be able to watch the traditional dusk fireworks show). Overall, I had a great time and was well pleased that Theresa suggested that we go to this place. When the fireworks were over, we left the park and headed to the train station and back to Stephanie’s flat. Again, Theresa fell asleep right away, but the snoring kept me awake. It also didn’t help that Stephanie’s little dog kept yipping at nothing all night, and then decided that my lap was the most comfortable place in the entire room to lie down!
Sunday, July 1
When I woke up this morning, Theresa asked how I slept, and I answered horribly, as I had done all week because of her snoring. Then she informed me that I had been snoring as well last night. This didn’t surprise me, because the only times that I do this are if I’m drunk (which I hadn’t been last night), and when I’m so completely exhausted that I feel like I’m about to die (which I most definitely was). So, that just confirmed that this holiday was beginning to take its toll on me. This is one more reason why I covet the warmth and silence of my own bed in Scotland…I desperately need to get some quality sleep and relaxation. Theresa and I were both a bit out of sorts that morning, and had to wait for Stephanie to come home (she had gone to a party the previous night and hadn’t yet returned). She brought breakfast (breads and cakes), which we quickly ate and then got ready to head out. I told Theresa that I wanted to return to her flat later today, as I wasn’t terribly comfortable sleeping over two nights in a row in a stranger's flat, and she understood, so we packed up all of our stuff and brought it with us. Stephanie drove us on a little scenic tour of Copenhagen, and we got to see the rich neighborhood (the houses were huge and gorgeous!), and showed me the shoreline (I swear, you could almost make out Sweden, which is so incredibly close to Copenhagen!). After the impromptu tour, she dropped us off at the Experimentarium, which is really just a fancy name for a science museum. When I found out that all the exhibits were written in Danish and English, I was ecstatic, as I could finally understand something for myself! We put out backpacks in a locker and started the tour. It was amazingly fun! I felt like a kid again. We both tried out everything, no matter how juvenile it may have seemed. I even found out that I though a baseball at 51 km/hour, which, I’ll admit isn’t that fast, but I was just chuffed that I managed to hit the bulls-eye and have my speed measured in the first place (anybody who has seen me throw can understand my apprehension…I truly fit the old adage of ‘throwing like a girl’). I walked a tightrope, pulled myself up a wooden incline using only my arms (very difficult!), tested my reflexes and speed my jumping on flashing frogs (though to be fair, Theresa and I cheated and teamed up to try and break the standing record…unfortunately, we didn’t quite manage to do it!), and much, much more. We even tested our health by doing all these tests, including finding out our height, weight, fitness rating, blood pressure, energy consumption, fat percentage, and BMI. Yes, I’ll admit that some of the results made me cringe when the numbers were reported, but surprisingly, overall, I am actually in pretty good shape…yeah for me! As we walked on, we got to play with huge bubbles (with a hula hoop and soapy water, you can envelop an entire person, as we both found out to our amusement!), mirrors, and a bunch of other things. I absolutely love science museums, and was completely in my element there, so needless to say I had the absolute best time today. There was one area that was really fun. There were two sets of things next to each other to compete with someone: wheelchairs, bikes, rowing machines, etc. As you exerted energy on each apparatus, this green sugar water dripped into a tiny cup and when you were done, that’s how much energy you had expanded from the exercise, and you could replenish that by drinking the tiny cup of sugar water. I beat Theresa in the wheelchair race, the bikes were broken, and then she kicked my butt in the rowing competition! We had to check out the souvenir shop before me left, and I was like a kid in a candy store (or rather, like a kid in a museum shop! Lol). After we finished, we took a bus to the train station and bought tickets back to Vojens.
Unfortunately, the journey wasn’t very smooth. We had to transfer at one place, and when we got off the train, Theresa found out that they had cancelled the train that was to take us to our final destination because they had just that day switched to a summer schedule or something. She had no idea what to do or how to get us home, and as I couldn’t speak the language or understand any of the signs, she was left to deal with the whole situation (another reason why, although I liked Denmark, I wouldn’t return. I felt so useless sitting there while Theresa had to figure everything out for herself. I like help out, but I just couldn’t, and I really hate that feeling!). Eventually she figured out what to do, and we even ran into her friend Elisabeth by chance. So, we all took that train to Kolding, and then Theresa and I had to wait another hour until a train came that would take us on to Vojens.
We did eventually make it back safely, and then basically just went to bed, as we had to get up really early the next morning to get a train to Germany.
Monday, July 2
We woke up so early, that I wasn’t really even awake until we had actually finished walking to the train station. We went to purchase our tickets, but then were told horrible news: the train was full! I was crushed. The one thing that I really, really wanted to do while I was over here was to go on a day trip to Germany, and now I wouldn’t be able to do that! I put on a brave face for Theresa so that she wouldn’t feel bad (as she had had to put up with the pressures of being a host and Danish ambassador for the past week, and I didn’t want to seem ungrateful), but I was actually quite hurt that we weren’t going. We trudged slowly back to Theresa’s flat in low spirits. She suggested that we could go swimming at the pool that she worked in, but I just wasn’t in a happy enough mood to do much of anything at this point, so I declined. Instead, we went grocery shopping and bought some food for lunch. We decided to just have a quiet day in and hang out. We watched a movie, but then all of a sudden, fatigue coupled with disappointment settled down on me, and I was forced to take a nap (which I absolutely never do when someone else is with me) for two hours or so. When I woke up, we decided to watch another movie, called Wasabi. I didn’t think I would like it because it was in French, but it turned out to be a great movie, and I absolutely expect that I’ll buy it once I’m back in Scotland! Theresa then went out and picked up a couple of pizzas for us for dinner and we pigged out. By this time, it was getting kind of late, and I had to try and cram all of my possessions (both old and new ones) into my tiny little suitcase, which proved to be quite difficult. With a bit of cunning and sheer force, I managed to fit everything in and zip it up. What a feat that was…I’m actually kind of proud of myself! Lol.
Tuesday, July 3
Today is the day I leave Denmark. I have mixed feelings about it. I’ve spent the last few days wishing for this day to come so that I could go home to Scotland, but now that it’s here, I’m not sure if I’m ready to leave yet. We had nothing planned for the day, as I had to be at Billund Airport at 4pm or so. We ended up going to the mall so that I could pick up a few things that I wanted to get before I left. I spent the very last of my money, down to the very last copper. After the mall, we had to drive towards the west coast to pick up Theresa’s father and sister from work. We got there really early so just sat there listening to music. It was then that I got a surprise phone call from my father! I haven’t spoken to him on the phone for probably over a year or two, so it was very weird to hear his voice while I was in Denmark. The call kept cutting out though, so we played phone tag on and off for the next half hour or so before he finally got to say everything that he wanted to tell me. I tried to call him back, but got some strange Danish message telling me that I couldn’t dial out. How strange is that? I can text anyone in the world from here, but wasn’t allowed to place a phone call? How annoying. Eventually we started out trip back east, with Theresa’s family in tow. As I was consulting a map to help Theresa find the quickest way to Billund, I noticed a listing for ‘Legoland’. I was thinking, "that can’t be what I think it is," so I asked Theresa. She said that yes, it was a kid’s park made of legos. I started laughing, and then she pointed out that the lego was actually invented in Denmark! I had never heard this before, so I was in shock. So Denmark had managed to produce some internationally renowned products/people after all (yes, I already knew about Hans Christian Andersen…who wouldn’t? The guy seems to be mentioned any time someone brings up the word Denmark! Though, I also learned that the Little Mermaid story also originated here)?! We finally got to the airport and Theresa and I were dropped off (she was taking a bus from the airport to her aunt’s house), so I checked myself in, and we sort of hung out for a little while before it was time to part ways. Again, the mixed emotions came flooding back. I did really want to get back to the familiarity of Scotland, but at the same time I was really sad to be leaving Theresa (we had been through a lot this week, but still managed to keep smiles on our faces and our friendship became even stronger in spite of it all). Of course, I had the consolation of knowing that I would be seeing her in just six more weeks when she came over to Scotland. So, we hugged a couple of times and went our separate ways. I am very grateful to her for all that she has done for me this week, and I know it hasn’t always been easy for her.
The trip back was completely event free and I finally set foot on Scottish soil at about 10:30pm. I was so happy, though I was unexpectedly welcomed back with nonstop rain and dreariness. *Sigh* Well, nonetheless, it is good to be home!